City Harvest Church, one of Singapore’s largest houses of worship, has transformed its worship venue experience with a cutting-edge L-Acoustics L2 sound system and L-ISA immersive technology. This innovative installation brings an unparalleled immersive audio experience to the church’s massive 8,000-square-metre space, housed within four convention hall units in the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre in the heart of the city’s central business district.
Founded in 1989, City Harvest Church holds multiple services every weekend. To meet the evolving needs of its congregation and enhance its dynamic worship services, the church sought a sound system that could deliver exceptional audio quality while creating an immersive environment that draws worshippers deeper into the experience.
In a post-pandemic worship world, many church members have grown accustomed to online services. “An elevated live worship experience is something that cannot be replicated online,” expressed Mark Kwan, Creative Director of City Harvest Church. “Sharing our worship services in L-ISA technology is exactly what we need to elevate the live worship experience.”
Presenting a welcoming, comfortable, and engaging live experience for congregants and guests is one of the key focuses of City Harvest Church. “With our new L-Acoustics L-ISA technology in place, we’ve created an immersive audio experience that is expansively wide, with instruments and voices clearly segregated within a cohesive mix,” continues Kwan. “The sound envelops our congregation, creating a more engaging and intimate worship experience, regardless of where you may be seated.”
Concept Systems Technologies, L-Acoustics Certified Provider Distributor for Singapore, answered the call to create this transformative audio environment. “Our goal was to assist the church in creating a more engaging and immersive worship experience for the congregation,” says Jimmy Lim, Executive Director of Concept Systems Technologies. “The L2 line array speakers, part of L-Acoustics latest L Series, were the perfect choice for this project, for their superior audio resolution and compact form factor, which allows us to overcome the venue’s unique challenges while delivering uncompromised sound quality.”
The system’s design addressed the venue’s specific challenges, including a low nine-meter ceiling height and a wide, almost 180-degree seating arrangement. After experiencing L-ISA immersive audio technology at Concept Systems’ L-ISA Auditoria in Singapore, the church management requested an L-ISA design instead of a traditional L/R system to create a genuinely immersive worship space. L-Acoustics Soundvision software played a crucial role in the system’s design and installation. “Soundvision allowed my team to precisely model the acoustic performance within the space, ensuring optimal speaker placement and time alignment,” notes Jimmy Lim.
Daniel Lee, Application Engineer for L-ISA at L-Acoustics, explains the significant improvement in the audio experience: “By implementing an L-ISA configuration, we increased the spatialised zone coverage from 8% with a traditional L/R stereo setup to an impressive 48%. This allows a much larger portion of the congregation to experience the full benefits of spatial audio mixing, creating a more inclusive and immersive worship environment.”
The L-ISA configuration features a Scene System of five hangs of one L-Acoustics L2 and one L2D backed by three flown hangs of three KS28 each in cardioid. Two further hangs of one L2D each provide extension coverage, while out-fill is managed by two hangs of one L2 over one L2D, which cover the widest extensions of the seating area. Nine X8 coaxial enclosures spread across the stage lip provide spatial in-fill and ground stacked KS28 – one flush mounted under centre stage and two stacks of two placed stage left and stage right, extend the low-end coverage. Two delay hangs of two A15i Focus over one A15i Wide extend sound coverage to the back corners of the space. The system is powered by two LA4X, six LA12X, and 17 LA7.16 amplified controllers.
The L2 system’s advanced capabilities align perfectly with City Harvest Church’s diverse programming needs, delivering consistent, high-quality immersive audio across all events – from full-band performances during weekend services to external conferences and live music concerts throughout the week.
The integration of L-ISA technology and its Stereo Mapper functionality provides the church’s technical team with unparalleled flexibility. While L-ISA offers advanced object-based mixing capabilities for immersive audio, Stereo Mapper ensures compatibility with traditional stereo sound sources and visiting sound engineers, making the system versatile for various events.
“The L-Acoustics L2 system with L-ISA technology at City Harvest Church represents a significant leap forward in audio experiences for houses of worship,” says Lee. “This installation demonstrates how our immersive sound solutions can create deeply engaging, enveloping audio environments that bring congregations closer to the worship experience, even in large-scale venues.”
City Harvest Church’s technical team, comprised of staff and volunteers, underwent comprehensive training to harness the new system’s full potential. The ease of use and intuitive interfaces of the LA Network Manager and L-ISA Controller have enabled the team to craft engaging, object-based mixes that enhance the overall immersive worship experience.
As houses of worship continue to embrace technology to connect with their ever-growing communities, City Harvest Church’s adoption of L-Acoustics’ state-of-the-art L2 and L-ISA technology sets a new standard for immersive audio excellence in religious venues.
